The Unification National Party () was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

which was founded in 1992 by

Chung Ju-yung Chung Ju-yung or Jung Joo-young (; 25 November 1915 – 21 March 2001) was a South Korean entrepreneur and the founder of Hyundai Group, Hyundai Group, one of the largest chaebols in South Korea. Raised as the eldest son of a poor Korean farme ...

, founder of

Hyundai Group Hyundai Group (; ) is a South Korean conglomerate founded by Chung Ju-yung. The group was founded in 1947 Hyundai Engineering & Construction, as a construction company. With government assistance, Chung and his family members rapidly expanded ...

History

The party was founded in January 1992 ahead of the 1992 legislative election in March, for which Chung announced his candidacy. The use of the word "unification" in the party's name reflects a common theme in earlier South Korean politics to consider

Korean reunification Korean reunification is the hypothetical unification of North Korea and South Korea into a singular Korean sovereign state. The process towards reunification of the peninsula while still maintaining two opposing regimes was started by the Ju ...

an important issue, something which has become less common today. Nonetheless, Chung and his party formed primarily in reaction to the government's strict attempts to regulate

chaebol A chaebol ( , ; , ) is a large industrial South Korean conglomerate run and controlled by an individual or family. A chaebol often consists of multiple diversified affiliates, controlled by a person or group. Several dozen large South Kore ...

conglomerates and called for economic

deregulation Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...

and

liberalisation Liberalization or liberalisation (British English) is a broad term that refers to the practice of making laws, systems, or opinions less severe, usually in the sense of eliminating certain government regulations or restrictions. The term is used ...

. The party also criticised the nascent

Gyeongbu high-speed railway The Gyeongbu high-speed railway, also known as Gyeongbu HSR, is South Korea's first high-speed rail line from Seoul to Busan. KTX high-speed trains operate three sections of the line: on 1 April 2004, the first between a junction near Geumch ...

as a government fundraising project for the upcoming election. The party succeeded in winning 31 seats, which was the main reason for the ruling

Democratic Justice Party The Democratic Justice Party (DJP; ) was the ruling party of South Korea from 1981 to 1990. History Chun Doo-hwan had become the country's de facto leader after leading a military coup in December 1979, and was elected president in his own r ...

's loss of an outright majority. In the 1992 presidential election held in December, the UNP ran on a primarily economic agenda, criticising both the Democratic Liberal Party (DLP) of

Kim Young-sam Kim Young-sam (, ; 20 December 1927 – 22 November 2015), often referred to by his initials YS, was a South Korean politician and activist who served as the seventh president of South Korea from 1993 to 1998. From 1961, Kim spent almost 30 ye ...

for falling behind on economic growth as well as

Kim Dae-jung Kim Dae-jung (, ; 6 January 192418 August 2009) was a South Korean politician, activist and statesman who served as the eighth president of South Korea from 1998 to 2003. Kim entered politics as a member of the new wing of the Democratic Pa ...

for being too "radical." It was speculated at the time that Chung would seek to primarily win over moderately conservative voters from the DLP, particularly the upper-middle class, but his performance was below expectations, obtaining only 16.1% of the popular vote and ending up in third place behind both Kims. After the election defeat, many members of the UNP defected in favour of the ruling DLP. Sometime after the election, Chung was subjected to financial investigations and, in February 1993, resigned from the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

and left the party while these investigations were ongoing. Chung was eventually sentenced to three years in prison for violating the Election Act and the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes Act. He was found guilty of diverting $62.8 million from Hyundai Group to his political campaigns, although he was not jailed due to his age. In 1994, the

New Political Reform Party New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 19 ...

merged with the Unification National Party in order to form the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

Leadership

Electoral results

President

Legislature

References

{{South Korean political parties Liberty Korea Party Political parties established in 1992 Conservative parties in South Korea Political parties disestablished in 1994 1992 establishments in South Korea 1994 disestablishments in South Korea Defunct political parties in South Korea